redsunset Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 Hello, Not posted since I got my first ever chooks last May. Love them and it's soo addictive! Ok, they are only hybrids and not the fancy kind I read about on here but I do love them. Lost two on Christmas week due to a local workman's collie dog and was gutted (it had to be my two wee friendliest isa browns). Anyway got 6 more this Saturday to add to my existing four so now have ten! Thought my other four would be more accommodating but no, lots of chicken swears at bedtime so had to cobble together a makeshift bed for the newbies with plastic bins/boxes straw etc. Yesterday I had the bright idea of using my big green glass wheelie bin for a spare and had four hens in it last night next to the henhouse and they were quite happy! Two had managed to sneak in with the big girls, and same again tonight, but different ones? They free range all day so hoping that intro's will go smoother that way and so far so good. Yes they will trash my garden, poop for Scotland, and take over my life but.... So two Isa browns, 1 Bluebelle, 1 Sussex, and now 5 Rhode rocks, and another Sussex. My friends think I have lost the plot talking about hens and all their habits/integration etc No foxes up here so all good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollyripkim Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 Congratulations, you have a lovely mix and it doesn't sound like Intros are going too bad. Know what you mean about friends though, some of mine think I am mad too. I did wonder on Sunday, I was out in the cold and rain giving them a good clean but it was soooo satisfying seeing then all snug and dry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsunset Posted February 11, 2013 Author Share Posted February 11, 2013 Yep, I have a lovely mix of colours now and love the iridescent green through the Rhode rocks black feathers and copper speckled breasts of two of them. If the local council could see the good use of a wheelie bin? Nearly an omlet cube, lol! It will do the job as filled with straw for the next two weeks, and then I expect them to be best of pals, so bin will go back to normal use! Down with torch every night to do a head count and check who's where! They have a quarter acre to forage in every day and plenty trees/bushes and love seeing them have a normal chicken life as much as I can provide up here. Love it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollyripkim Posted February 11, 2013 Share Posted February 11, 2013 Had to laugh about the wheels bin but as you say it does the job perfectly. Sounds like they will have a lovely life with all that space as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsunset Posted February 11, 2013 Author Share Posted February 11, 2013 Knew that would make a few chuckle! But like I said to my mum I didn't got to the girl guides for nothing....was a brill idea! Door is wedged semi shut with two stones and they are under bushes so snug as a bug in a rug as we say!!Hope to get bin back soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsunset Posted February 22, 2013 Author Share Posted February 22, 2013 Well after almost two weeks of the new chooks sleeping in the wheelie bin I gave in and bought a new hen house on the way home from work tonight. They delivered it at 5.40pm and I had no sooner put straw into it, and the new girls went scooting straight into it! Integrating chickens is not as easy as I thought it would be and the oldies would not let them in so at least now there are two houses. Now I'm thinking maybe a few more chickens..........I should behave or I'll end up with a row of Cornish beach huts at the end of my garden?!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortle Chook Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 a row of Cornish beach huts sounds rather pretty . . . some might say prettier than a row of Cornish wheelie bins Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsunset Posted February 22, 2013 Author Share Posted February 22, 2013 Lol, that is true!! Glad to get my bin back though and have very happy chooks. If they are happier that way having their own apartments so be it. Have to say the bin did the job perfectly until I figured it all out being a newbie. Really thought that after two weeks of free ranging together all day it would sort itself out but no. Lady Sussex rules the roost with an iron claw! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christyrose12 Posted February 22, 2013 Share Posted February 22, 2013 I must sound really hard I always just put the newbies in the chicken house with the resident girls shut the door and eventually the bickering dies down and they go to sleep. It does take time for them to sort themselves out and during the day I usually put new ones in a pen in the run so the oldies can get used to them but they still all sleep together at night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsunset Posted February 22, 2013 Author Share Posted February 22, 2013 Trust me to do it back to front, free range together right away and then expect them to be allowed into the house?! Maybe another hen-house was a way of having to get more chickens now as well.......any excuse! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsunset Posted February 23, 2013 Author Share Posted February 23, 2013 Another 5 chooks appeared in my garden today, so 3 white Sussex, and two Rhode Rocks hybrids now brings my total up to 15! That's my max now!! Honest..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsunset Posted February 23, 2013 Author Share Posted February 23, 2013 Bedtime went well, the five( new ones I got today) went in with the six I got two weeks ago into the new house I got last night and the original divas who number only 4 have their house to themselves so peace is restored. Phew, no more wheelie bin!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortle Chook Posted February 25, 2013 Share Posted February 25, 2013 No more wheelie bin, but lots and lots of lovely eggs. Will your family get cakes and meringues as well as scrambled eggs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsunset Posted February 25, 2013 Author Share Posted February 25, 2013 No more wheelie bin is correct. As for the eggs, I don't even bake! I do have a list of friends awaiting patiently for the surplus though. After all the fuss of a new henhouse, tonight I found the head honcho 'Lady Sussex' as I call her had moved in with the newbies so now I just have to ask are hens racist?? All the white Sussex and Rhode Rocks are in one and only three in the other????(two brown and a bluebelle) Both houses are identical and large but?? What's the bets I find all 15 trying to squeeze into the new one yet? No red mite so can't blame that one. Chooks are funny things and will do as they please I guess? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsunset Posted February 27, 2013 Author Share Posted February 27, 2013 Making pals! Had a wee sneaky look in the first hen house tonight with a torch and 7 hens in it. Delighted to see them spreading out between the two houses, which are side by side. Head chook seems to have defected to the new coop for some reason, but all good. Can still see a few wee brown hens appearing to join them later in the season.....and add to my row of Cornish beach huts! Doubt I will need the lawn mower this year as they have weeded all areas under the trees, and trimmed the grass. Will have a fight to reclaim some planting areas (shrubs are the way to go I think and lots of them) annuals in pots. Will upload pics when I figure out how....forgotten! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsunset Posted February 27, 2013 Author Share Posted February 27, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsunset Posted February 27, 2013 Author Share Posted February 27, 2013 Please excuse the rubbish photo, am trying to post new ones but will take better ones soon! Had forgotten how to do it (bit of a technophobe!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsunset Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsunset Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsunset Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 First two are last yrs chooks, Flora and Maud chilling, next pic is some of the newbies. Will get more pics soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortle Chook Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 What lovely pictures and what a fantastic set up for your chickens . . . they are practically jungle fowl I have lots of shrubs now in my garden too, together with climbing roses and clematis and tell everyone to 'look up,not down' . I've also had some success with hemerocalis if you do want some colour lower down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsunset Posted February 28, 2013 Author Share Posted February 28, 2013 Thank you. I will be very interested to find out all about what plants work best with free ranging chickens. I have most of the ones you mentioned and would love to hear of more. Although we have had a very mild winter up here, the wind is probably the one thing that can destroy things that do best in nice sheltered English climates but can grow most things as I have lots of established trees to shelter. As the flock increases I guess it will be trial and error for a while? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortle Chook Posted March 1, 2013 Share Posted March 1, 2013 Rosemary is a good one. Some people say 'lavender' but I've found my chooks quite like eating it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsunset Posted March 1, 2013 Author Share Posted March 1, 2013 Have rosemary but manage to kill lavender up here for some reason? So far penoies, hostas, ferns, cordyline, New Zealand flax, hebes, daffs, bluebells, iris, hardy geraniums, ladys mantle, clematis, honeysuckle, escallonias and most shrubs seem to be ok with the chooks. Excuse the spelling if I have some wrong. Throwing their corn on a mound under some trees (where the new chook pic was) in the hope that they will scratch up the ground elder that thrives there and cannot get rid off. Now I have 15 chooks I may well revise the above list of plants to zero in two months yet!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chortle Chook Posted March 4, 2013 Share Posted March 4, 2013 Agreed about hardy geraniums, lady's mantle and peonies but alas, after leaving my irises, ferns and hostas alone for a year (when, as a result I bought quite a few), last year my chickens suddenly decided that these were top of their menu and destroyed the whole lot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
